Longdong, Jinan

Overview

About

Longdong (Dragon Cave) lies in the hills south-east of Jinan, in Longdong Subdistrict of Lixia District, on the border with Shizhong District. The limestone hills here are cut by many valleys, chief among them Longdong Valley in the middle, Canglong Gorge to the west and Foyu to the south-east. “Spring Dawn at the Brocade Screen”, one of the old Eight Views of Jinan, is in Longdong Valley.

Legend says that when Yu the Great was taming the floods he chased an evil dragon, which burst through the mountain and escaped, leaving the cave; the hill Yu climbed is Yudeng Mountain, and the gorge where the dragon hid is Canglong (Hidden Dragon) Gorge.

Longdong Cave

Longdong Cave is in the cliff on the west side of Longdong Valley: a limestone cave about 100 m long that runs right through the rock, low enough in places to make you stoop, with an opening to the sky in its roof that locals call the sinkhole. Buddhist figures carved in and around it range from the Eastern Wei to the Yuan, a long span, though most are now weathered. At the mouth is a couplet left by Gong Yitu, prefect of Jinan in the Qing, after praying for rain here.

Longdong Valley

On the valley floor east of the cave are the ruins of Longdong Temple. First called Longdong Court, it was renamed Shousheng Court by imperial grant in the Northern Song, and officials and townspeople came here for centuries to pray for rain. The halls are gone; old ginkgos, steles and column bases remain. The surrounding cliffs, the Brocade Screen, Duxiu Peak and others, carry several dozen inscriptions from the Sui–Tang to the Qing; the six large characters on the Brocade Screen naming the temple are said to be in the hand of Su Shi.

The heart of Longdong Valley is now a military zone and is closed to the public.

Canglong Gorge

Canglong Gorge runs east–west for several kilometres west of the cave, between sheer walls; at its narrowest you can almost touch both sides with arms outstretched. To the north is Yixiantian (“a thread of sky”), a slot less than two metres wide. The sinkholes above the cave are in this area too.

Foyu

Foyu (Buddha Valley) lies south-east of the cave and holds the ruins of Bore Temple, founded around the Sui; only the site remains. The cliff on its north side has a Sui dedication inscription, Tang figures and steles, and many later inscriptions from the Qing on. In the valley are Linji Spring, Luhua Spring and a waterfall dropping into a pool called the Buddha-bathing Pool. Linji Spring was already listed among the famous springs in the Yuan gazetteer Qi Sheng.

The cliff carvings of Longdong and Foyu are a Shandong provincial protected site.

The hills around

The hills around the cave, among them Yudeng Mountain, Heiyu Peak, Guanshanjue and Limao Mountain, rise to around 500 m and are laced with footpaths. They are well wooded, and the smoke trees and maples turn red in autumn.

Travel tips

Getting there: take Metro Line 3 to Longdong Station, then walk about 1 km south to the Longdong car park at the south end of Longding Avenue. By car, turn south from Lüyou Road onto Longding Avenue and follow it to the end.

Routes: the gate at the south end of Longding Avenue belongs to the army and is closed. From the west side of the car park, the Longdong section of the Jinan Greenway climbs past a viewing platform and down to Yixiantian and Canglong Gorge; the round trip takes four to five hours. Canglong Gorge can also be entered from the Jiangshuiquan side to the west and crossed eastward. Foyu is reached by the road from Kuangcun village to the south.

Admission: free.

Take care: the paths are only partly developed; further in they are loose stone and steep, with few signs and many forks, so go with company and carry enough water. The gorges are dangerous in rain and in the flood season. Autumn, when the smoke trees and maples turn red, is the busiest time.

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